Mechanfsm for changing coin



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. H. FRUEN.

` MBGHANISM POR GHANGING COINS. No. 344,824. Patented July 6, 1886.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheetsf-Sheetzv.. W. H. FRUEN. MBGHANISM FOR CHANGING COINS.-

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VILLIAM HENRY FRUEN, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

MECHANISIVI FOR CHANGHG COIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 344,824, dated July 6, 1886.

Application filed September 2S, 1885. Serial No. 178,493. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, VILLIAM HENRY FnUnN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident ofMinneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and Stat-e of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Money- Changing Mechanisms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for automatically returning the correct change to passengers or customers in streetcars,stores,&c.; and it consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, as 'hereinafter shown and described.

In the drawings, Figure I is a side elevation from the interior of the casing inclosing the mechanism. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation on the line m x of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail of one of the coin-receiving pockets and one of the operating-levers. Fig.. et is a plan view of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of a portion of Fig. 4. Fig. Gis a detached view of one of the grooved drums, showing more clearly the manner in which the lever acts upon it. A' represents an upright shaft, stepped by lts lower end at a in a hanger, B', and supported at its upper end by a collar, b', the latter being the hub of a ring, B2, to which it is connected by webs or arms b2.

O represents the frame or easing inclosing the mechanism, only a portion of one side being shown, and to this side C the ring B2 and step B are secured by bolts or screws d, as shown. I have shown in the drawings another ring, B3, surrounding the shaft A between the hanger B and ring B2, the two rings being connected by ribs e e2, and the ring B3 and the hanger B being shown connected by ribs c3 et, t-he rings B2 B3, the collar b', arms b, hanger B, and ribs e e2 c3 e* being cast in one piece.

VWithin the ring B2, upon the shaft A', is secured adisk, A, while upon the shaft A', beneath the disk A2, is secured a drum, A3, having a zigzag groove, g', formed in its periphery, as shown. IThe drum A3 and the disk A2 being bot-h secured to the shaft A', the revolution of the drum will be communicated to the disk. The disk A2 is provided with grooves 72, equidistant from each other, and radiating from the center, and formed with downwardly and outwardly inclining bottom surfaces, as shown. These radiating grooves h are intended to support coinst' upon their edges within them, as shown, and their inclined bottoms will cause the coins to rest with their rims against the interior of the ring B2 and roll ont from the disk A2 through a slit, k', in the ring when the disk is revolved, so as to bring the coins opposite the slit, as hereinafter described. Opposite the slit la the side C of the casing is pierced with a slot, m', and into this slot is secured a trough-shaped casting, m2, forming a conduit for the coins i as they roll out through the slit 7c to guide them into a pocket, m3, on the outside of the casing C. By this means, if the radiating grooves 7i be filled with coins and the disk A2 revolved, the coins will be carried around With it and be held in place in the disk by the stationary ring B2 until the grooves h come 0pposite the slit k, when the coins will roll out through the slit and conduit m2 into the pocket m3.

As before stated, the drum A3 has a zigzag groove, g', formed in its rim, and into this groove a pin, g2, projecting from a lever, D', is adapted to fit, the lever being pivoted at g3 to the casing C and extending alongside the casingand -provided on its free end with a coin-receiver, D2. The rear end of this lever D is provided with an adjustable counterweight, D3, on the end opposite the receiver D, so that the lever may be counterpoised, as required. Just above the receiver DL a coinslot, n', is formed through the side l@ of the casing, and from the inside of this slot two inclined arms, u2 n3, project, the slit n being just Wide enough to receive a coin of a predetermined denominationusually a silver quarter of a dollarand the arms nza placed just f far enough apart to support the coin and guide it into the receiver D2. The slot at will not admit a coin larger than the one for which it is made, while if a smaller coin be inserted it will drop down between the arms a2 a3 behind and not into the receiver D2, as will appear from an examination of Fig. 3. rIhns the predetermined coin only will find its way into the receiver D2. The lever D will be so delicately poised by the counter-weight D3 that the Weight of the coin in the receiver will be sufficient to overcome its inertia and cause it to move downward, thus causing the pin g2 to move downward against one of the angular sides of the zigzag groove g and revolve the drum A3 a short distance. When the lever D has moved downward a sufficient distance, the coin will roll out of the receiver D2, which will release the lever D and cause the counter-weight D3 to return it to its former position, this return movement of the lever causing the pin g2 to act upon the next inclined side of the grooveg and revolve the drum another short distance.

The groove g in the drum A3 is formed with the same number of zigzags7 as there are coingrooves h in the disk A2, so that each complete stroke of the lever D will revolve the disk A2 the distance of' one of the coin-grooves, so that one of the grooves lr will be brought opposite the slit K at each stroke of the lever. Thus, if each of the grooves h be supplied with change for a quarter, or two tencent pieces and one tive-cent piece, set on their edges, the dropping of the quarter into the slit u will by its action on the lever D cause the contents of one of the grooves lz, to roll outinto the pocket m5, while the quarter will be dropped from the receptacle D2 into a box or drawer placed to receive it. The ring B3 is provided with a disk, A, vhaving radiating coin-grooves h', a drum, A5, with zigzag groove g4, a lever, D4, having coin-receiver D5, and counterpoise D, and with a pin, g5, adapted to act within the groove g4, as shown. A coiled spring, P, will be arranged above the drum A3, and a similar spring, P2, will be arranged above the drum A5, the inner end of each spring being connected to its respective drum, andthe outer end of each spring being connected to the fixed frame or to the arms or connectingbars e c2 e3 e4, as shown, so that they will cause the drum A3 A5 to be revolved in a certain direction. These springs are just about long enough and powerful enough to revolve the drums about one full revolution, so that they will insure the action of the drums in the proper direction.

Attached to the topof each ring B2 and B3 is a stop-plate, t t2, and projecting up from.

each of the, radially-grooved coin-disks are stop-pins t3 and t, adapted to strike against said stop-plates t t2, and prevent the disks being turned backward beyond a certain point. The disks A2 and A4 being filled with coins z', the levers D and D4 will be operated by hand and the disks turned backward, (the form of the zigzag grooves g g4 permitting the backward movement ofthe disks as wellas their forward) movements, until the stop-pins t3 t4 strike their respective stop-plates t and t2. Then when the coins are dropped upon the receivers D2 or D5 and the levers D' or D4 moved downward, the coiled springs, holding the edges of the zigzag grooves y g4 in drums A3 A5 against the pins g2 g5 in the levers D and D4 will cause the pins to move down the zigzag grooves in the proper direction. The drums might be operated without the springs P P2, but the presence of the springs cause the drums to act more positively and always in the right direction. Ordinarily when used on streetcars only twenty cents in change will be placed in each ofthe l grooves h, as the remaining five cents will be retained as fare, the passenger depositing the twenty-tive cents and receiving his correct change less the five cents fare. Then used to return the full amount deposited, then the grooves 7L will be made large enough to hold the required change. Of course it will be readily understood that the device may be modified to any required extent to suit almost any transaction. One simple modification which will generally be made will be to multiply the coin-holding disks,operating drums, and levers, so as to return the proper change for the different coinssuch as dollars, halfdollars, quarter-dollars, dimes, and sometimes even for coins of less value. Then, again, an additional set ofthe disks and levers may be used to furnish tickets or checks instead of change.

As before stated, I haveshownin the drawings a second ring, B5, and within this ring is shown a second disk, A4, similar to the disk A2, and having similar radiating coin-supporting grooves, h. This ring B3 is provided with a slit, 7c3, in one side, and acoin-receiving pocket, m4, similar to the pocket m5 in the side C opposite toit. Itis necessary that this second or lower set of devices should operate independently of the upper set, hence the disk A4 is shown' with an extended hub, A5, on which the drum A5 is keyed 'or otherwise fastened, while the hub runs loosely upon the shaft A. By this means' the disk and drums A4 A5 are coupled together, so that they will revolve together, while at the same time the shaft A will revolve within them without affecting them. Opposite the receiver D5 is a slit, n4, through the side O, and leading down from this slitis an inclined slide, a5, to guide the coin into the receiver D5. The slitn4 will be made just large enough to receive a dime, and the lever D4 will be so delicately lpoised by the counter-weight D5 that the weight of a dime dropped into the receiver D5 will be sufficient to overcome its inertia and revolve the disk A4 and discharge the coins from one of its grooves h into the pocket m4 at each stroke of the lever D4. The grooves h in the disk A4 will be made large enough to each hold a five-cent coin if the device is used on streetcars and one fare is to be retained, or two live-cent coins if the whole value ofthe dime dropped into the slit n4is to be returned. One set of disks, drums, levers, Sto., may be arranged to furnish sets of tickets or checks instead of change, if required, but thegeneral construction and mode of. operating would be the same.

It is evident that the device may be extended to any limit to adapt it to return change for any or all denominations of coins by merely multiplying the sets of disks, drums, levers,

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coiirreceivers, Snc.; but usually the number will not eXceed iive, viz: change for dollars, halldollars, quarter-dollars, andl dimes, and one set to supply tickets, as hereinbeiore shown. The device may also be arranged to furnish change for vecent coins, or tickets for 'five-cent coins.

Some other equivalent mechanism mightbe employed to operate the radially grooved disks A2 A" than that shown, and I do not wish to be limited tothe construction shown, although I prefer the construction shown as being the most simple and accurate for' the purpose.

Having thusdescribed my invention, what I claim as new is-` 1. A disk having radiating coin-supporting grooves, and a stationary ring surrounding said disk, and having a slit in one side withwhich the grooves vin said disk successively coincide, in combination with mechanism where by said disk may be rotated the distance of one of said radiating grooves by the weight of a coin, substantially as set forth.

2. A disk having radiating coin-supporting grooves, and a stationary ring surrounding said disk, and having a slit in one side with which the grooves in said disk successively coincide, in combination with a drum connected to and rotating with said disk, said drum having a zigzag groove in its rim, a pivoted lever having a pin which engages said zigzag groove, a coin-receiver mounted on one end of said lever, and a counterpoise on the other end thereof, substantially as set forth.

3. A disk, A2, having coin supporting grooves h, stationary ring B2, surrounding said disk, and having slit 7c', a drum, A3, connected to and rotating with said disk, said drum having a zigzag groove, g', in its rim, and a spring, P2, connected at opposite ends to said dru n1 and to a fixed part of the mechanism, in combination with a pivoted lever, D, having a pin, g2, which engages said groove g', a coinreceiver, D2, on one end of said lever, and a counterpoise, D3, on the other end thereof, and casing C, having coin-slit a opposite said receiver, and coin-slit m opposite said slit 7c', substantially as set forth. i

4L. A disk having radiating coin-supporting grooves, a stationary ring surrounding said disk, and having a slit in one side with which the grooves in said disk successively coincide, and a lever having a coin-receiver, said lever co-operating with said disk to rotate the same when raised and lowered, in combination with a casing provided with a coinslit, and guide arms iixed to said casing on each side of said slit,which conduct coins only of a given size into said coin-receiver, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

VILLIAM HENRY FRUEN.

Witnesses:

C. N. WooDwARD, H. U. YOUNG. 

